This is a collaboration blog by Erika Del Sordo and Meredith Kimmel, ACC. This blog can also be found at www.MeredithKimmel.com
Welcome to 2022! At the end of each year, we typically take stock of the year that is ending and set resolutions for the new year. We look at the new year as an exciting fresh start, an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. There is so much hope and promise with the new year. However, as the days and months go by, we have a tendency to fall short of achieving the goals we set, or we lose interest and desire. We may even say, “let’s wait until next year to finish that goal.”
At the end of 2021, Erika and I wrote a blog about keeping the holiday spirit alive all year long. For this blog post, we wanted to apply that same theme. You don’t have to wait for the new year to start fresh. Each day provides the opportunity for a fresh start!
How Do You Start Fresh?
The short and easy answer is you decide to start.
I’m not trying to discount the hope and optimism of a new year, I absolutely love that. I think that you should take inventory of the year that just ended and make resolutions and intentions for the upcoming year.
However, as a coach, I believe that you can set a new goal, or a new intention at any point during the year, and my job is to help you create strategies and accountability to achieve that goal or goals.
We are lucky that we get to wake up each day with a fresh set of 24 hours to go out and do our best, make goals, and accomplish them. Don’t waste your 24 hours, use them wisely.
Let’s Dig Deeper.
As I said above, to start fresh, you make the decision to do it. That is the short and easy answer, it is a little more difficult than that.
The steps to starting fresh are as follows:
- Recognize that something needs to change.
- Decide on your goal or intention.
- Strategize how to achieve that goal or intention.
- Make the goal measurable so you can track your progress.
- Check in with yourself to make sure that the goal is something that you still want to achieve. This is especially important if you feel your desire around your goal is waning, or you lose interest.
- Celebrate your success when you achieve your goal.
My advice is don’t wait until the new year to make a fresh start, don’t wait until a Monday or the first of the month to make a fresh start. If you want to start fresh, go ahead and do it any day of the year, at any hour or minute of the day.
Another Way to Look at Starting Fresh.
Sometimes when we create goals or intentions, we start working at them, and then realize that perhaps we don’t want to achieve that goal anymore, or something happened in our life that prevented us from being able to achieve that goal. That is not a failure. It is just a change in circumstances. Don’t let that stop you from forward progress or starting fresh.
Use that change in goal or intention to start fresh and allow your life to take a different direction. There are no failures. There are lessons and course corrections.
Honor the decision to change or circumstance that caused you to change course.
Erika, what do you think? What do I think? Honestly, I think you stated everything about this topic above PERFECTLY. Very well said and exactly what you and I want to instill in others.
The Workout Woes.
As a fitness instructor, I see this more than anyone outside of the fitness industry. Everyone wants to start fresh with the dieting and exercise “in the new year.” They drop the gym and any regimen they had shortly before Thanksgiving and go rogue.
That absolutely kills your regimen. It kills your accountability to yourself. It kills your body’s ability to continue its course on the path to good health, which you stopped abruptly!
So How Do I Ensure a Fresh Start?
First, you can refer to Meredith’s steps to starting fresh above.
Secondly, you can wake up each morning with your very own kickstart to the day.
That can look like:
1.) Prayer
2.) Speaking affirmations.
3.) Watching an inspiring video.
4.) Reviewing your list of goals for both the day AND long term.
5.) Working out!
I teach Kickbox class four times a week. If getting up and throwing kicks and punches isn’t your way of starting the day, (it’s a requirement for mine), then do some light stretching to awaken your body. Maybe some jumping jacks or pushups to get the blood flowing. A roll of your neck with deep breaths to bring the heart rate down and then get out there and SLAY!
The picture above is EVERYTHING I’m referring to. Don’t wait for January 1st to “create habits.” Which is essentially what you say when you refer to “resolutions in the new year.” If it’s a HABIT, then it won’t take the holidays to kill those habits and look forward to a new year. Having a plan puts it all in perspective.
Strictly speaking gym-time for the moment, if you maintain your regimen, then you won’t have to work extra hard to lose extra weight or start from square one getting your dormant muscles back in shape.
No Bad Fruit.
Don’t throw away the rest of the year like it’s a rotten banana. Make it fresh up until December 31st. And then start the new year the same way you just did the previous 365 days. With goals, actions, intentions and vigor!
I honestly want to hear your progress report. Set a calendar reminder for March 31st to contact me at ErikaDelSordo1@gmail.com with how your year is going so far. We can do this every few months until the end of the year.
Don’t give up on yourself! You only have you. So take care of YOU first thing in the morning so that you can take care of everyone and everything else throughout the rest of the day.
And as Meredith eluded to above, if your morning got off to a rough start and you need a re-do mid-day, then start fresh mid-day! Just make sure that your fresh start happens at some point during the day!
We’re here for you and rooting you on!
Happy New Year!
